


Sacrifice

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 04:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12904500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Fill #15 for Pillars Prompts Weekly. I went with what my Watcher is most grateful for, since that one was pretty easy to figure out for at least one of my girls.





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> Fill #15 for Pillars Prompts Weekly. I went with what my Watcher is most grateful for, since that one was pretty easy to figure out for at least one of my girls.

 

_Water poured off of her, pooling briefly in the sandy dirt before it was absorbed. Emiri coughed up another lungful as she knelt  on the deserted shoreline and raised a shaky hand to rake back silvery-blue hair plastered to her face. Still breathing hard, giving the occasional sputtered cough, she turned and sat hard. Her fingers pressed against the ground, gritty soil building under her nails. She closed her eyes briefly at the sensation, let out a shuddering breath, and turned her gaze to the flotsam-strewn ocean that had just minutes ago swallowed a pirate ship mostly whole. She located the spot that still showed ripples from the wreck’s sinking best she could from this distance._

_“_ Fuck _you,” she hissed, the words sharp on her tongue. She’d never uttered that particular curse before--gods knew she probably never would again--but she’d heard the pirates say it loudly and often, so it seemed a fitting thing to spit over their grave. She did wish she could’ve saved some of the other slaves, though. But it had taken her long enough to get free, there simply wasn’t time. She’d still turned toward the stairs to belowdecks, convinced only by the small wave already lapping at the deck that there was no hope._

_Free. Emiri tore her eyes from the waves and raised her still-shaking hands slightly, staring at the manacles encircling her wrists, a few links of broken chain dangling against her arms._

Free _. The word almost felt alien rolling around in her head. A concept meant for other people, not the “secret weapon” of the Crimson Path crew. But anyone who would have enforced that line of thought had died with the ship._

_“Free,” Emiri whispered. She flicked one wrist, making the chain fragments clank. “I did it.”  
_

_She picked up the hammer that had washed ashore with her, glints of steel where it had struck her chains showing through the built-up grime, and rose to her feet. Her first steps were wobbly as she regained her land legs after twenty years on a ship, but she kept going. She’d pushed through much worse._

>>O<<

“Watcher, we have to sell some of this shit.” Hiravias jostled his pack meaningfully, making the weapons, armor, and knick knacks inside rattle against each other. “We’re all loaded like pack mules, and I swear to Wael if I’m asked to shove one more xaurip spear in there, I’m going to snap first it and then the asker’s neck.”

He grinned and winked at her, but Emiri still wasn’t sure he was _entirely_ joking. “I know, and we will. Tonight when we camp we can go through and see if there’s any gear better than what we’re currently using, and tomorrow when we reach Defiance Bay we can sell what we don’t need.”

Hiravias gave a single nod, evidently satisfied with this plan, and returned to his spirited discussion with Kana. Emiri adjusted her own pack--which she did have to admit was getting heavy--and started calculating how much further they could travel that day.

They actually made a good bit more progress before darkness tinged the sky and they set camp for the night. Then, as promised, Emiri had everyone pull out all the paraphernalia they’d looted from various dead enemies, random storage containers in catacombs, and the like.

“Alright, look through and see if you can find anything that’s better than your current equipment,” she said. “After you’ve taken care of yourselves, see if there’s anything our absent companions could use, give Aloth any grimoires so he can see if there’s anything new for him to learn in them before we sell ‘em, and then the rest of it--including any gear you get rid of--can go back in the pile. We’ll split it between us ‘til we get to Defiance Bay.”

Everyone nodded understanding and a low chatter picked up as her friends started sorting through the frankly impressive pile of spoils.

It reminded her of pirate plunder. Emiri winced and tried to block out the thought by picking through the nearest pile, but her current gear was working just fine-

“Can you use this?” Kana sat down next to her, holding out a beautifully constructed single-hand warhammer. “Yours looks like it’s seen better days.”

“It has,” she admitted freely. She’d never been able to get all the grime off, and the leather binding the handle was stained by water and sweat alike. In contrast. the hammer Kana offered was gorgeous shining steel, geometric patterns etched down the sides of the head. The handle was sturdy, not chipping, and the dark leather binding still smelled new. “But i’s still good enough for me. Why don’t you use that one?”

“Because I’m infinitely better with swords or a rifle,” Kana chuckled. “The hammer is your weapon of choice. And while yours is still serviceable, I would think you would want the best weapon available. Seeing as you don’t-” he shot a pointed but friendly look at her protective grip on the old hammer- “I imagine there’s a story behind it?”

Emiri nodded. Anyone else, that’s all the answer she would have given. But this was Kana. He’d been nothing but friendly, helpful, and kind. So she flipped the hammer and rested the head against the ground, tapping the pirate brand burned into the bottom of the handle.

“I used it to escape,” she elaborated. “When it was clear our ship was going down, things turned into every man for himself. No one was watching me any more. So I picked up the only weapon close enough to reach--this hammer--and started striking the chains like Abydon himself was driving my arm. Managed to break them just in time to get away before the ship would have pulled me down with it.” She sighed. ”Kana, there were at least two dozen slaves and three or four dozen pirates on that ship, and I’m the only one who made it out alive. The pirates can rot in Rymrgand’s void for all I care; I’d just as soon their twisted, worthless souls never touch Eora again. But the slaves... Most of them were innocent. A lot were taken from their homes as children, like I was, and grew up in chains, like I did.” She thumped her fist against her chest. “My freedom was bought with their lives. And there is nothing in this world I’m more grateful for than my freedom. So even though I’ve found several weapons much better than that hammer, I keep it-”

“-to remember,” Kana finished, voice quiet. Reverent, almost. “To honor them.”

Emiri laughed, almost sheepishly. “It sounds much... higher-minded when you put it like that. I know they didn’t rush the pirates and hold them back so I could escape or anything like that. Still, my freedom came with the sacrifice of their lives. Those things are... what was that word Aloth used the other day? _inexorably_ intertwined. I don’t want to forget what was lost on the day of my greatest gain.”

“Completely understandable,” Kana assured her. “Still, at least hold on to this hammer in case the old one breaks?”

Emiri nodded. “I can do that.” She took the hammer, feeling the faintest pulse of heat in her face when their hands brushed. _Oh, stop that._ “Thank you.”

Kana flashed one of his wide, toothy smiles. “You’re very welcome.” He pushed to his feet and headed back toward the mish mash of equipment spread across the ground.

Emiri watched his return and studied her companions for a few minutes as they sorted through entirely too much junk looking for things worth keeping. She smiled as Hiravias tossed Aloth another grimoire(the third one they’d found so far), and Pallegina passed Edér a cloak with Eothas heraldry stitched across the shoulder . He grinned in thanks and handed her a necklace glimmering with some enchantment she’d like as not find useful. A smile pulled at Emiri’s lips as she watched. She might be most grateful for her freedom, but her friends were a pretty close second.


End file.
